Maintence Lead

Nightwing • Sterling, VA

1d • $147,000 - $296,000

About The Position

Nightwing is seeking a senior-level Maintenance Lead to oversee and coordinate maintenance activities across Tier 1–4 support entities. The role serves as the technical authority for break/fix operations and ensures effective incident resolution, problem management, and service delivery across large-scale operations supporting critical national security and Intelligence Community missions.

The Maintenance Lead is accountable for the operational availability and health of mission-critical systems in accredited DoD and Intelligence Community environments, including systems with Authority to Operate (ATO). The position ensures maintenance meets DoD Information Assurance requirements and NIST SP 800-171 standards, applies ITIL-based processes, and supports continuous monitoring and system readiness throughout the lifecycle. It leads teams supporting programs with 100+ FTEs and operates in 24/7/365 mission settings.

The role coordinates preventive and corrective maintenance, incident escalation, service-level performance, metrics and reporting, configuration and asset management, accreditation documentation, process improvement, vendor relationships, and technical risk mitigation. It also leads maintenance personnel, coordinates with government and mission partners, and supports contingency planning and continuity during outages or other critical incidents.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Engineering, IT, or a related STEM field.
• At least one of the following certifications or an equivalent: CISSP, CISM, CCISO, GCDA, Security+ CE, or CySA+.
• One of the following experience qualifications: 10+ years in maintenance and operations with demonstrated leadership of large-scale IT operations and maintenance teams; 8+ years leading maintenance operations for programs of similar size and scope (100+ FTEs, $50M+ budgets); or 10+ years managing break/fix operations and service delivery for systems supporting national security missions.
• One of the following domain experience qualifications: 5–8 years in cybersecurity, SOC, or cyber incident response with an operational focus; 5–8 years in detection engineering and automation maintenance and support; or 5–8 years in IT services operations and maintenance with Intelligence Community customers.
• Deep understanding of IT service-management principles and maintenance operations for enterprise-scale systems.
• Demonstrated experience with programs of similar size and scope supporting Intelligence Community missions.
• Extensive knowledge of incident, problem, and change management processes.
• Strong understanding of SLA management, OLA coordination, and service-delivery metrics.
• Experience managing 24/7/365 operations supporting mission-critical systems.
• Working knowledge of cybersecurity operations platforms, including SIEM (such as Splunk or Elastic), SOAR, and detection frameworks.
• Familiarity with ticketing systems such as ServiceNow, Remedy, or Jira Service Management and other ITSM tools.
• Understanding of configuration management, asset management, and inventory control.
• Knowledge of hardware and software maintenance best practices.
• Exceptional coordination and communication skills, including the ability to manage across support tiers and vendor organizations.
• Demonstrated success in mission environments requiring rapid incident response and restoration.
• Track record of SLA achievement, operational excellence, and customer satisfaction.
• Ability to brief senior military and civilian leadership during outages or incidents.
• Experience managing in matrixed organizations with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Ability to manage under pressure during critical incidents and system outages.

Nice To Haves

• Experience within Intelligence Community and mission partner environments.
• ITIL Foundation, ITIL Practitioner, or ITIL Expert certification.
• Advanced degrees and certifications in IT process improvement or capability frameworks, such as ITIL, COBIT, ISO 20000, CISSP, or Agile/SAFe.
• Multiple advanced certifications, such as CISSP, CISM, or GIAC certifications.
• Experience managing maintenance for SOCs or threat-detection programs with 24/7/365 operations.
• Background in systems administration, network operations, or infrastructure management.
• Experience with cloud operations (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and hybrid infrastructure maintenance.
• Prior military or Intelligence Community operations or technical leadership experience.
• Experience supporting classified programs at TS/SCI level with special access programs (SAP).
• Experience with DevOps/DevSecOps practices and infrastructure-as-code maintenance.

Responsibilities

• Serve as senior technical authority for maintenance activities across Tier 1–4 support entities.
• Oversee break/fix operations, preventive maintenance, and corrective actions for cybersecurity operations, detection platforms, and automation systems.
• Monitor SLA and OLA compliance and coordinate incident escalation and resolution to restore service with minimal mission impact.
• Coordinate maintenance across 24/7/365 operations and develop proactive strategies to prevent system degradation and disruptions.
• Establish and enforce maintenance standards, procedures, and best practices across support tiers.
• Track maintenance metrics and KPIs, including MTTR, MTBF, availability, and SLA compliance; prepare operational and executive-level reports.
• Conduct root cause analysis, identify recurring trends, and implement preventive measures and problem-management actions.
• Maintain configuration management databases and asset inventories.
• Interface with customers, mission partners, and Intelligence Community stakeholders on maintenance matters.
• Maintain operational responsibility for systems requiring ATO and ensure maintenance complies with DoD Information Assurance and operational security requirements.
• Support continuous monitoring for accredited systems and coordinate with IA/IT personnel to protect system accreditation postures.
• Develop maintenance documentation supporting ATO and accreditation processes.
• Develop and maintain maintenance SOPs and MOAs with ecosystem partners and customers.
• Implement and improve incident, problem, and change management processes in alignment with applicable service-management frameworks.
• Lead post-incident reviews and corrective-action planning; champion automation and orchestration to improve maintenance efficiency.
• Integrate maintenance activities with broader program execution and technical operations.
• Lead, mentor, and develop maintenance teams and Tier 1–4 support personnel across operational shifts.
• Coordinate with contractor personnel, government counterparts, vendors, and subcontractors; manage vendor and subcontractor performance related to maintenance services.
• Ensure effective communications during planned and emergency maintenance; support training and knowledge transfer and staff skills development.
• Foster a collaborative, accountable, quality-focused, and responsive maintenance culture.
• Identify and mitigate operational risks; develop contingency and disaster-recovery plans to preserve mission continuity.
• Ensure redundancy, failover, and backup systems are operational and tested.
• Support crisis management during outages, security incidents, or performance degradation, balancing emergency and planned maintenance while minimizing mission impact.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• 401(k) plan
• PTO
• Holidays
• Additional insurances
• Competitive compensation with performance-based incentives tied to operational performance and SLA achievement

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior